


Trust Exercises

by KelpieChaos



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Pre-Relationship, discussion of trauma, mild panic attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27780949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KelpieChaos/pseuds/KelpieChaos
Summary: He'd tell Kitagawa the same pretty sob story he'd told Sakura and Akira, and that would be that. He opened his mouth to start the tale, but Kitagawa beat him to speaking."Did you know I still freeze when doors open unexpectedly?"
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kitagawa Yusuke
Comments: 8
Kudos: 59





	Trust Exercises

"He's beautiful, isn't he?"

Goro smothered a startled jump in a pleasant smile. "I'm sorry?"

"Akira," Kitagawa clarified. He'd sat down across from Goro in his corner booth, back to the other Thieves as they chatted after the most recent (useless) meeting and eyes lowered to the sketchpad his pencil was drifting over.

Taking a sip from his coffee, Goro let his gaze drift back over to Akira, watched as he gave a little laugh to something the blond idiots were squabbling about. Something bitter twisted between his lungs, and he turned back to Kitagawa, his shoulders loosely slumped as he sketched out quick lines. What was his goal here?

"If you say so." The words were bland, but he hadn't managed to iron out the bitterness from the edge of his voice. Damn.

Blinking, Kitagawa raised his head. His bangs fell into his face, and Goro followed long fingers as they tucked the hair back behind an ear. Pencil lead dusted across his skin where he'd smoothed out some lines with a fingertip. Steel eyes regarded him steadily, Kitagawa still for once as he studied him.

Goro refused to meet his gaze.

"Ah," Kitagawa hummed, returning to his sketch. "He doesn't quite understand, does he?"

"What?" What the hell was that supposed to mean? Akira didn't understand _most_ things, in his opinion, even as he somehow managed to surprise Goro regularly with unusually sharp insights.

"How lonely it is when he turns his gaze away for those with no one else."

No. Goro was not having this conversation. No, nope, no thank you. Not with Kitagawa. _Especially_ not after his part with Okumura. He let the mug clink on the wooden table as he put it down, reaching for his briefcase. 

"Akechi."

Goro froze. Kitagawa's voice was sharp and cold enough he could almost believe he'd been caught by one of his bufudynes. His phone chimed, and he flinched before he recognized the tone. Not Shido. Probably some reporter or producer trying to schedule another interview.

"Sit down, please."

He let a slow breath out. He sat back down. He'd tell Kitagawa the same pretty sob story he'd told Sakura and Akira, and that would be that. He opened his mouth to start the tale, but Kitagawa beat him to speaking.

"Did you know I still freeze when doors open unexpectedly? Someone down the hall went for a midnight adventure last night and I nearly flooded my sink for lack of ability to turn the water off." He didn't look at Goro as he spoke. He seemed relaxed, but Goro thought maybe he was holding his pencil tighter than before.

"I'm...sorry?" Goro found himself offering. Why was Kitagawa telling him this?

Kitagawa nodded, though he could tell it was more acknowledgement than acceptance. "Madarame was not always kind, and often my only warning was the sound of the door as he came home. It has been months since I needed to worry about his mood, and yet his marks on me remain." He raised his head to catch Goro's eyes. "You flinch at your phone more than you realize."

Fuck. Fuck and shit and damn him to _hell_. He didn't have a pretty story to spin for that, and now Kitagawa was watching for all the little tells Goro might have to show his lies. Years of practice had made him _quite_ a good liar, but he knew he depended on other people looking the other way just as much as he knew Kitagawa _wouldn't._

"Who are you scared of contacting you?"

"I'm not scared of him." The words were out before he could stop them. He needed to leave, _now,_ but Okumura and Makoto had joined the others between him and the door and he did _not_ need the entire group pushing this and, wait, did they _know_ something, there was no way but Sakura _was_ an impressive hacker and he _needed to know how much they knew._ He had plans, but if he needed to rework them he had to move fast. "That is, there is no one to be scared of. The only people who contact me are either looking for me to do my job or are your group asking me to come to meetings. Unless you think someone in there would frighten me?" He could feel the pretty, toothless, paparazzi smile on his face.

Humming, Kitagawa put his pencil down, folding his arms and leaning on the table. "Did you know you lock up the same way Futaba and I flinch when men get angry on the news? When they get low and loud to intimidate the other newscasters into listening to them."

He felt his face freeze in its porcelain mask. No. No, he hadn't. What the fuck was he _doing_ that he hadn't realized that?!

"Did you know that you drift off when Shido is featured, and that you don't come back until directly addressed?"

He...was aware of that one, actually. He heard enough of that pig's voice, had to play along with his games so often that he often just...couldn't make himself listen to more of his bullshit.

Goro flinched when fingers entered his line of sight. When had he looked away?

Kitagawa's eyes were heavy and solid as steel.

"Let us-" he broke off as bright laughter broke out behind them. "Let _me_ ," he amended, "help you."

They wouldn't. He'd killed Sakura's mother, Okumura's father, was threatening Makoto's sister's career to force her palace, had orchestrated the Thieves' fall from grace for his own gain and blackmailed his way onto their team...and that was just what he'd done directly to _them_. They weren't killers, didn't have blood on their hands, and he'd dipped his in so often that he'd acquired a taste for it. Even if they helped, they'd want to change Shido's heart, and he couldn't let that happen. He was wrapped too deep in Shido's plans; if he started spilling, then he'd take Goro down with him.

"Goro."

Pressure wrapped around his left hand. He could only stare, something tight in his chest, at Kitagawa's hand holding his. No one touched him, not really. Akira's fingers sometimes brushed his as they passed the chalk for their sticks, a couple times one of the Thieves has slapped him out of a status condition, and there were always endless hands to shake at the police and TV stations.

But this...this had no other purpose than just to touch. Kitagawa was trying to make a connection with him, and so he reached out. He could feel his glove slowly warming between their hands, his right hand so cold in comparison.

"Please." Kitagawa wasn't begging; though his voice was soft and face twisted into a slight frown, the word was steady and secure in his desire for Goro to answer in kind.

A knot built at the base of his throat, and Goro shook his head. He couldn't. He _couldn't._ Everything was riding on getting the Thieves out of his way so he could take down his father and reap the rewards of his death. He wasn't so weak willed that a bit of faked concern and a few questions were enough to gut him and spill his secrets. He just needed to take out the trash and patch the issues later.

Kitagawa sighed, leaning back. His hand loosened on Goro's, started slipping away.

Light headed panic dropped Goro's clenched jaw.

"He's my father."

Ringing in his ears echoed the words in the sudden silence of Leblanc. Kitagawa's hand settled back around his. Goro jerked his gaze up to meet his and forced himself to ignore the prickling feeling of seven other sets of eyes on him. "He's my father," he repeated, "and I want him _dead_." He took a breath, felt it hitch around all the disgusting things inside him. "I'm going to kill him."

"Like you killed Haru and Futaba's parents." The words were smooth, not looking for confirmation as much as Kitagawa giving him a chance to keep talking.

" _Yes,_ " he hissed. "And I'll enjoy watching every _second_ of his Shadow dissolving into _dust_ for all the things he put me through."

From closer to the door: "You know we can't let you do that."

Goro snarled at Akira. "Like you can stop me." The Thieves had come an impressive way for having their Personas for such a short time. But he'd been training, working, _winning_ , for years now.

Fingertips pressing against the skin under his sleeve, just past the edge of his glove, snapped his attention back to Kitagawa.

"We don't need to stop you," he said serenely. "We just need to convince you to find a better way."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Goro spat.

Kitagawa shrugged, his fingertips settling on Goro's wrist where his heartbeat pounded. "We have a hacker capable of taking down a worldwide organization, the sister of a truly impressive prosecutor, and the heiress of an international corporation. While Ann, Ryuji, and I don't have quite the same leverage, we can help with ideas. Akira surely has even more connections." Carefully, more gentle than if Goro had been made of tissue paper, Kitagawa pulled off his glove. He guided his hand over, opening it to trace light touches across the callouses gained from long practice with guns. "You have options."

Options. Goro looked back over at the group, met their stares one by one. Determined and angry and worried expressions all challenged him for his answer.

They were taking a massive risk revealing that they knew this much to him. They were asking him to take that same risk on them.

"I…" he trailed off. He hadn't trusted anyone since before his mother died. Every single person after, no matter how nice they seemed, always ended up proving themselves unworthy of it. He turned back to Kitagawa. Choked on another half word as he realized what he'd been sketching.

It was him, sitting in the corner booth with his coffee, looking into the middle distance. And even upside-down and unfinished, Goro could see how alone he looked, how separated even from his surroundings.

"...okay."

"Okay?" Yusuke echoed.

"Yeah." Goro caught his fingers with his own, threading them together so he was actually holding hands back instead of Yusuke just covering his. "Convince me."

A brilliant smile broke over Yusuke's face as he closed his eyes. "Thank you. We shall not let you down."

Swallowing thickly, Goro nodded. "I'm trusting you."

Yusuke met his gaze. Goro watched, entranced as a rabbit before a wolf, as Yusuke drew his hand up and placed a delicate kiss along his knuckles.

"I know."

  
  



End file.
